talking to the appraiser

What type of information can home owners give appraisers during a refinance? Last month I put together a “cheat sheet” for listing agents to use during a sale, but I had several requests for something to use for a refinance. Loan officers and real estate agents, save this form to your desktop and consider sharing it with your clients as needed. If you can help home owners communicate more effectively about their property and the neighborhood, it can give the appraiser more data to consider, which can sometimes impact the value. Also, you’ll look like a rock star by providing excellent service.

A “cheat sheet” to communicate with appraisers: The document below helps address some of the questions appraisers tend to ask home owners, and it also gives insight into the neighborhood. You can quickly fill it out, and give it to the appraiser in person (or email it). Feel free to edit the document as needed. Download in WORD or a PDF.

EXAMPLE OF INFORMATION SHEET FILLED OUT

This document addresses recent improvements made to the subject property, but it also gives an opportunity for home owners to share any insight about the neighborhood, school district boundaries, coming changes in the city, reasons why people are buying in the area, or insider knowledge about the subject property or street. Hopefully the appraiser is in tune with these things, but I recommend not assuming. Remember, this is potential market data, and it can sometimes make a difference in the appraised value.

Some quick tips:

Save this document to your desktop.

Tell the truth in everything you write.

Feel free to skip, delete, or add any categories.

You don’t need to write a novel, but it’s okay if the document ends up being more than one page (keep it less than two though).

Be specific about upgrades. For instance, instead of saying, “The house was remodeled throughout,” unpack what that means and when any remodeling was done (if you know).

Remember, this information is about sharing facts instead of pressure to hit a certain value. This is exactly why it’s okay to share this type of information. During the inspection, simply say, “Here is some information about my property”, and hand the document to the appraiser.

Use the “other information” section at the very bottom to mention any changes in the neighborhood that might be relevant for the appraiser to know about (parks, streets, land uses, zoning, businesses, etc…).

If an appraiser is coming over, it’s usually because something big is happening. Maybe it’s a refinance, purchase, divorce, bankruptcy or estate settlement situation. Whatever the case, it’s important to be prepared to offer detailed information to the appraiser where possible. After all, knowing more about a property and having a deeper perspective on the neighborhood can play a huge role in the appraised value.

A RESOURCE FOR YOU: I’ve included some snapshots below of a downloadable basic information sheet I developed for home owners and real estate agents to give to appraisers. The download consists of the three pages you see below, and you can DOWNLOAD HERE for free as a PDF or WORD document.

Disclaimer

First off, thank you for being here. Now let's get into the fine print. The material and information contained on this website is the copyrighted property of Ryan Lundquist and Lundquist Appraisal Company. Content on this website may not be reproduced or republished without prior written permission from Ryan Lundquist.

Please see my Sharing Policy on the navigation bar if you are interested in sharing portions of any content on this blog.

The information on this website is meant entirely for educational purposes and is not intended in any way to support an opinion of value for your appraisal needs or any sort of value conclusion for a loan, litigation, tax appeal or any other potential real estate or non-real estate purpose. The material found on this website is meant for casual reading only and is not intended for use in a court of law or any other legal use. Ryan will not appear in court in any capacity based on any information posted here. For more detailed market analysis to be used for an appraisal report or any appraisal-related purpose or valuation consulting, please contact Ryan at 916-595-3735 for more information.

There are no affiliate links on this blog, but there are three advertisements. Please do your homework before doing business with any advertisers as advertisements are not affiliated with this blog in any way. Two ads are located on the sidebar and one is at the bottom of each post. The ads earn a minor amount of revenue and are a simple reward for providing consistent original content to readers. If you think the ads interfere with your blog experience or the integrity of the blog somehow, let me know. I'm always open to feedback. Thank you again for being here.